Non-profit agency unable to pay workers

Posted: Thursday, September 30, 2004

By Joe Johnsonjoe.johnson@onlineathens.com

For the second year in a row a community-based program that operates Head Start, Full Plate and 25 other social programs in Northeast Georgia counties is unable to pay its workers in a timely manner as the federal fiscal year comes to an end.

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Arthur George, president and CEO of Athens-based ACTION Inc., said his non-profit agency's 300 employees have been waiting as long as a week to receive paychecks, due to the fact that state and federal funding sources are not making timely payments for services rendered by the local organization.

"It's the same situation as last year," George said. "When we have invoices for programs that have been completed, the government has its own timeline in making reimbursement."

He added, "Some pay in a more timely manner than others do."

The reason for that, George explained, is that the state and federally funded programs ACTION Inc. administers have experienced significant budget cuts, leaving them shortchanged when it comes time for reimbursements.

To prevent this from happening in future years, George said he has been meeting with the ACTION Inc. board of directors to analyze each of the organization's programs to determine which are not cost-effective and are underfunded, with an eye toward possibly eliminating some the programs that ACTION Inc. administers.

George used as examples child development centers in Barrow, Greene and Newton counties, all of which provide preschool day-care but are under-used and located at declining facilities.

Now that the same payroll shortfall has happened two years running, George said ACTION officials are working on a plan to restructure contracts, to ensure that precise deadlines for the timely reimbursement of expenses are adhered to.

That is no consolation for ACTION employees, who depend on having their paychecks directly deposited in their bank accounts, only to find checks bouncing because the ACTION funds were unavailable.

"Of course people are concerned, because when a person works he or she expects to get paid," George said. "We've experienced cuts in the budgets of federal programs. We are a Health and Human Services organization, and many of those programs we administer suffered significant cuts. When we can't meet payroll because funding sources haven't paid their invoices, that's serious."

George said none of the ACTION employees risked losing their jobs because of the payroll shortfall, which he expected to be remedied before the federal fiscal year begins Friday.

"We regret the situation that has occurred, and we are working diligently toward resolving the situation and making sure everyone gets paid," George said.